baidu

How would you like to roll with a bicycle that's able to charge your smartphone? How about one that works with onboard navigation? One that monitors your health while you ride? All of these bits and pieces work with the Baidu DuBike, a smart bicycle created by the Chinese search engine company, one that'll be released in China very, very soon. For the moment though, details are limited to features - no pricing or distribution is prepared for the public at this time.

We have a lot of smart objects in our lives these days. Smart phones, smart watches, smart homes, and a bit of smart cars. What about smart bikes? No? Well, Baidu thinks "yes" and its Dubike smart bike is now up for everyone to see. Or at least images and videos of it. The Dubike is indeed equipped with your standard fare navigation and tracking features, but it is a bike that does not easily reveal its geeky nature and looks like any classy, high-end bicycle.

Google has been working valiantly on its self-driving (autonomous) car, as well as certain auto makers like Volvo. China's Baidu has revealed that it is also entering the self-driving car industry, only its system won't entirely get rid of the driver, instead serving as an "intelligent assistant".

The so-called "Google of China", Baidu, has stopped accepting Bitcoin as payment on any of its online properties -- as has China Telecom. This near-synchronous cessation of payment transactions for the two companies in the digital currency, many believe, exacerbated the recent sudden downturn of Bitcoin's long and unprecedented rise in value. The USD Bitcoin value currently stands at $679.43 according to CoinDesk, down from $1,147 just before the People's Bank of China all but outlawed the payment option for banks.

Google's Glass wearable could get some Chinese competition, it's reported, with Baidu developing a head-mounted "Baidu Eye" system of its own. The headset would launch Baidu's open wearables program, Sina Tech claims, with the Chinese search company licensing out the technology to hardware manufacturers while it provides the software and cloud services. According to reports, Baidu is targeting functionality that includes face-recognition, photography, phone calls and more.

In China, the biggest search engine on the block isn't Google; it's Baidu. Baidu has announced the launch of a mobile browser to compete with UCWeb, Google, and Apple within the country. Mobile browsers are important within China because a huge number of people access the Internet on mobile devices.

It’s easy to think that Google is the world’s dominant search engine, but in China the majority of online searches are made using Baidu. The company has found itself in some hot water, however, after it has been discovered that four employees deleted posts from its forum service after accepting bribes. All four employees have since been fired, and three have been arrested by Chinese police, although it’s not clear exactly what the employees were deleting.

Apple recently confirmed that it will be offering Baidu as an additional search engine option for iOS users in China, while Google will remain the default. In an interview with Bloomberg, Baidu's vice president Wang Jing said that as part of the deal, it will be sharing its advertising revenue with Apple, although he did not reveal the specific commercial terms.

New sources from Bloomberg are confirming rumors that Apple may be replacing Google with Baidu for the Chinese version of iOS. The sources say that the announcement could come as soon as next week, when Apple will be hosting its annual WWDC event. The move adds to the notion that Apple is trying to reduce its dependence on Google products, following reports that Apple may replace Google Maps with its own in-house mapping service.

Android and iOS may be seeing massive success in Europe and the United States, but Baidu is poised to compete against both in China. The search based company is planning to launch a new version of its operating system, Baidu Cloud, which will feature cloud-based products such as storage. Executives at Baidu have told Reuters that the company is in talks with “global” partners.